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Grand Line – Paradise
Alabasta – Port of Nanohana, inside the Merry
One minute later, Sabo returns with the white Den Den Mushi in his hands, placing it on the table in front of Ace right after entering the room.
Not even a second passes after this action, and Ace is already dialing a number on the Den Den Mushi's built-in keyboard, making a call.
And then, after a few moments of waiting, the Den Den Mushi connects to the other side.
"Pero... pero... kacha... Hello! Who's speaking?", a calm male voice asks as soon as the call connects.
"Marco, it's me, Ace! I need to talk to Pops", recognizing who it was by the voice, Ace goes straight to the point, wanting to talk to Whitebeard.
"Yoi, Ace! You finally gathered the courage to call? Pops is really upset with you!", Marco says calmly, warning him about what should be obvious at that moment, Ace was in trouble.
"Upset about what?", Ace asks, playing dumb.
"Well, he told you not to go after Teach, and you simply ignored him and went anyway!", rolling his eyes lazily, Marco just clarifies what Ace already knew to be the reason he was in trouble.
"Yeah, I was a little impulsive and reckless, I admit it!", Ace reluctantly admits.
"Very impulsive and reckless!", Marco corrects him, enjoying scolding Ace.
"Ok, ok, how about we stop with the scolding and move on to what really matters? I need to talk to Pops, Marco! I've got someone here who might have the cure for his disease!", Ace says hurriedly, wanting to get straight to the point.
"…We've already tried everything, remember? There still isn't a cure for what Pops has!", after a few seconds of silence, Marco says in a somewhat heavy tone. Unfortunately, they still hadn't developed a cure for Whitebeard's disease.
"But what if it's possible? If there's a chance, even a tiny one?", clinging to any possibility, Ace asks, hopeful.
"...Sigh... who gave you this kind of hope, Ace?", letting out a sigh, Marco asks tiredly. There still isn't a cure. He has been studying Whitebeard's disease for years; all the progress he's made in his research has only alleviated the symptoms. His research alone puts him among the greatest specialists on the subject in the world; it's basically the work of his life, and it's still far from over.
"My little brother!", Ace replies with conviction.
"Wait, the same little brother that you now and then said was really dumb?", caught off guard, Marco asks while letting out an amused puff, back to his lighter mood.
"Seriously, man?", Luffy looks at Ace and asks indignantly.
"I mean, I might have said that a few times...", Ace tries to play it down, only to be interrupted by Marco.
"Several times!", Marco corrects him, clearly amused.
"Alright, the thing is, I trust Luffy with my life! And if he came to me with this matter, it means there's at least a possibility! So, can you please stop stalling and pass the Den Den Mushi to Pops?", fed up with all the stalling, Ace asks urgently.
"Hmm... alright, go ahead! He's been by my side since before I answered the call!", after pondering for a few seconds whether or not to prolong Ace's wait a little longer as a form of punishment for making everyone worried, Marco decides it's enough and passes the Den Den Mushi to Whitebeard, who had been by his side since the beginning of the call.
At that moment, a new, deep, and aged voice enters the conversation, "Ace!"
"Pops, if you could listen…", Ace begins to speak, only to be interrupted in the middle of his sentence.
"Ace! Do you have something to say to me?", Whitebeard asks in a calm tone.
"Pops, we'll talk about that later! But for now…", Ace first tries to make him listen about the cure, but Whitebeard interrupts him again, "I won't hear anything until you say it!", his voice leaving no room for complaints.
"...Sigh... alright, I'm sorry for ignoring your orders and going out to hunt Teach!", sighing like a sulky child who doesn't like admitting his mistakes, Ace apologizes for going against his father and captain's orders.
"And what else?", not finding it enough, Whitebeard asks, wanting Ace to continue.
"I was impulsive, reckless, and made everyone worried! I'm sorry!", Ace continues, downcast and embarrassed for having to go through a situation like this in front of his brothers, who, by the way, were watching the scene with all smiles.
"Good, now let's hear what your brother's idea is!", satisfied with his son's apology, Whitebeard says, allowing Ace to move forward with the matter for which this call happened in the first place.
"...Sigh... Luffy?", with a tired sigh, Ace gestures for Luffy to explain his idea.
"Hrum, first of all, I just wanted to point out that Ace is very hasty and didn't let me elaborate on my idea before already making the call", clearing his throat, Luffy says, making it very clear that if his idea was shit, it was all Ace's fault for being impulsive.
"Hey!", Ace complains indignantly. What was this? Was he being attacked from all sides now?
"That said, how's it going, old man? Ace here mentioned that you are having to wear diapers so you don't end up shitting your pants!", ignoring Ace's complaint, Luffy greets Whitebeard with a smile, trying to break the somewhat heavy mood with a humorous comment about the Yonkou's age.
"Gurarararararararara! Bold brat, aren't you afraid of me?", letting out a thunderous laugh, Whitebeard asks with a amused smile on his face.
"Nahh, I'm going to be the King of the Pirates, it's not an old man that's going to scare me! I just hope my idea is feasible and that in the future I can face a version of you back at your prime!", Luffy responds casually.
"Gurararararararara! Your little brother has balls of steel, Ace!", laughing even more, Whitebeard comments good-humoredly; he liked Ace's little brother.
"Hahaha, and he's just as strong as me, Pops!", with his good humor restored by his little brother's previous comment, Ace says proudly.
"You mean stronger than you, actually!", Luffy retorts upon hearing Ace's comment.
"Man, how many times are we gonna have to say it was a tie?", Ace asks with a sigh, not wanting to argue about this anymore. They were the older brothers, so if they said it was a tie, then it was a tie.
"It took you and Sabo teaming up to take me down!", Luffy replies indignantly. How does a situation like that count as a tie?
Meanwhile, next to them, Sabo just observed the whole interaction with a smile on his face, without saying a word.
"Sabo?", Whitebeard asks upon hearing that name, remembering Ace mentioning him several times in the past.
"He's my other brother, I've told you about him plenty of times before!", setting aside his discussion with Luffy, Ace turns his attention back to the Den Den Mushi and replies.
"I thought he had passed away when you were kids", Whitebeard comments, remembering the whole story Ace had told him.
"Me too, but he survived that day, only without memories; we reunited yesterday!", Ace comments, his voice sounding a bit incredulous, as if it still hadn't sunk in that his brother was alive and right in front of him.
"I'm happy for you, son! Now, we were talking about a supposed cure, right?", Whitebeard comments, genuinely happy for his son.
"Yeah! Luffy, explain your idea!", being brought back to the subject that caused this call, Ace turns to Luffy and asks him to continue.
"Alright, first of all, do you guys know exactly what the old man's illness is?", Luffy asks, wanting first to know if the old man's illness was the same one he theorized it to be.
"Marco!", Whitebeard asks Marco to speak, after all, he was the one who took care of his health.
"Pops has cancer!", Marco says bluntly, without embellishments.
"Are you sure? Couldn't it just be a benign tumor?", Luffy asks to be sure, but let's be honest, if it were a benign tumor they probably would have already solved it, even though treatments had only recently appeared and were still very invasive, with Whitebeard's body's resistance to damage, it would have been relatively easy to solve the problem.
Honestly, Luffy already imagined it could be cancer. The problem is that this disease has been attacking Whitebeard's body for years, so depending on the damage already done, even if his idea theoretically worked, it might no longer be viable to put it into practice.
"No, it's a malignant tumor! Actually, a super malignant tumor; we've checked thousands of times and tried everything, even the best doctors we know couldn't do much! We tried to slow the proliferation in every possible way, but it has already spread through a good part of Pops' body; honestly, I don't even know how he's still alive and strong", Marco explains the situation his father's body was in, his voice growing heavier the more he spoke.
[I don't understand anything about this subject, so go easy on me! Basically, yes, the world of One Piece has knowledge about tumors and cancer; it's just that benign tumors are starting to become treatable, and that alone has advanced research on curing malignant tumors a lot. The problem is that Whitebeard's case is special; his cancer is very potent, to the point that a normal person would die within months if they had his disease. So, at the moment, the only thing keeping him alive is the fact that his body is monstrously strong and Marco's efforts to slow the disease while researching a cure.]
"Well, honestly, the cancer is very advanced! But let's go, basically, my idea is for the old man to use his Akuma no Mi to vibrate his own body, except for the tumors and cancer cells, and then become intangible, that way the cancer would literally fall off his body!", letting out a sigh of sorrow, already knowing there wasn't much to be done, Luffy still explains his idea.
Then, after a few seconds of silence, Whitebeard bursts out in a good-humored laugh, "GURARARARARARARARARA! WHAT A CRAZY IDEA!"
"Wait a minute, how would this even work to begin with?", Marco asks seriously, needing a more in-depth explanation about the mechanics of this crazy idea.
"The fundamental principle of the old man's fruit is to vibrate; it so happens that the vibrations he produces are so strong and violent that they cause earthquakes! The hypothesis here is that, by having enough control, and when I say 'enough' I mean control beyond the surgical level, he can vibrate at such a high frequency that the molecules of his body basically phase, making him intangible", Luffy explains his idea, drawn almost entirely from the memories of the other world.
"Could it work, Marco?", despite understanding more or less the mechanics behind the idea, Ace decides to ask the one who knew the subject best.
"Look, it's not my field! But yes, from the little I know, theoretically it would work...", Marco begins to calmly answer only to be interrupted by an excited Ace.
"So, what would we need to do to put this idea into practice?", Ace asks hurriedly, emotion taking over him.
"Yoi, calm down, Ace! Just because it theoretically works doesn't mean we're going to try doing that!", Marco interrupts him calmly, thinking rationally.
"Why not? Pops' cure is right in front of us!", furrowing his brow, Ace asks indignantly.
"Ace, not even at his peak did Pops have this kind of control over his Akuma no Mi; expecting him to reach this level of control now, when his body is in this state, is basically asking a rock to stop being a rock! It's not possible!", Marco then throws a cold bucket of water on Ace. They couldn't make decisions based solely on the information that 'it would theoretically work'; no, there were many factors, including more important ones, to be considered.
"There's gotta be a way, what if we talk to a scientist about this?", clinging to anything, Ace asks, not wanting to let go of this idea.
"What scientist?", Marco questions him.
"How about that Vegapunk? Isn't it said that he's five hundred years in the future in terms of technology?", with his mind racing, Ace quickly comes up with a name.
"And what's your brilliant idea? Kidnap him?", Marco asks, his voice clearly dripping with sarcasm; there's no way Ace didn't see the big problem with this idea.
"Yeah, but only for a while", Ace replies, more and more inclined to make this sudden idea happen.
"Oh, great, wonderful! Let's kidnap the Navy's chief scientist and declare war against them!", Marco cuts in, speaking over him sarcastically.
"That's a small problem we can deal with later! The important thing is curing Pops", even seeing the blatant flaws in his idea, Ace tries to argue, minimizing the problem, but Marco again speaks over him.
"A small problem? Seriously?", Marco asks, impressed.
"ENOUGH, YOU TWO! FORGET THIS IDEA", and then, Whitebeard's thunderous and powerful voice rises above the two, silencing them.
"But dad...", Ace tries to argue, but he isn't given the chance to speak, tears welling up at the corners of his eyes.
"Enough, Ace! I am old, I've already achieved my dream, and now I just want to spend the last moments of my life with my sons! Now, when are you coming back?", Whitebeard silences him again; they wouldn't follow this idea because he didn't want to follow this idea, period.
"... Shit, did you have to say something sentimental like that, you stubborn old man?", wiping away the tears that threatened to roll down his face, Ace asks with a sad smile.
Keep in mind these tears are from someone who just heard his father basically say that he won't live much longer and that he prefers not to attempt a risky treatment to cure his cancer.
"Don't run away from the question, son! When are you coming back?", Whitebeard asks again, his voice emanating an overwhelming care, but invisible to everyone.
"After I take down Teach! And don't worry, Luffy and Sabo will help me with that", Ace replies still shaken, feeling powerless.
"...Sigh... just don't die! Alright?", letting out a resigned sigh, Whitebeard says, Ace was stubborn like a stone, so all that was left was to ask him to be careful.
"I won't", Ace replies with a sad smile.
"What a shame, I was hoping to be able to face you at your prime!", Luffy suddenly comments sadly.
"Gurararararara! Don't worry, even old, I'd still beat your ass up, brat!", laughing loudly at this brat's boldness, Whitebeard says with a predatory smile.
"Shishishishishi! We'll see!", laughing along, Luffy says with a smile on his face, his sadness fading away as if it had never existed.
"By the way, where are you now, Ace?", changing the subject, Whitebeard asks, wanting to know where Ace is.
"We're in Alabasta, Luffy has to settle some things here before we leave!", Ace answers, still recovering.
"Well, I guess I should hang up now then! It was a fun conversation!", in a good mood, Whitebeard says, having enjoyed the talk.
"Already, Pops?", Ace asks; they had barely even talked properly.
"Yeah, you boys seem to have things to do, and this old man doesn't want to get in the way!", Whitebeard says, not wanting to hold them in this conversation forever.
"See you in the New World, old man! When I get there, I'm going to challenge each one of the Yonkou, so get ready! Just because you're old and sick doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you!", Luffy then says goodbye with a cheerful smile on his face.
"GURARARARARARARA! I'll give you such a beating when you get to the New World, brat!", with a thunderous laugh, Whitebeard says before hanging up the call.
"Man, your balls must be made of steel to talk so casually with a Yonkou", Sabo, who had stayed quiet throughout the conversation, suddenly says as soon as the call ends.
"Nah, I just don't see any reason to be afraid", Luffy responds, not caring much.
"Are you okay, Ace? If you need to vent, we're here!", noticing that Ace still seemed a little shaken, Sabo asks, worried.
"I'm fine, it's just that I got so attached to the idea of being able to heal Pops that I didn't even take into consideration what he wanted! It's sad for me and for the rest of the crew, but the fact is that the old man doesn't intend to keep prolonging his life, so I guess all that's left for me is to stay by his side in his last moments! By the way, why didn't you say anything during the conversation, Sabo?", fully recovering, Ace says with a resigned sigh before asking Sabo.
"I didn't want to interrupt the conversation! By the way, is it okay if I use the Den Den Mushi now to call Dragon?", Sabo answers before turning to Luffy and asking.
"Go ahead!", Luffy responds, gesturing for Sabo to feel free to use it.
"Dragon, Luffy's father?", with a furrowed brow, Ace suddenly asks.
"That's right", Sabo answers naturally while picking up the Den Den Mushi and starting to dial Dragon's direct contact number.
"You're part of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo?", connecting the dots that had always been in front of him, Ace asks to be sure.
"Only just realized now?", raising an eyebrow, Sabo asks back.
"Yeah… I kind of just connected the dots now!", Ace responds, a bit embarrassed for not having realized it before. It had been obvious the whole time: he knew who Luffy's father was, Sabo said he was rescued by Luffy's father, Luffy's father was the one who taught Sabo Superior Haki, how did he not see it before?
"Now you know!", Sabo says with a smile, finishing dialing the number.
"... Pero... pero... kacha... Hello!", a few seconds later, the call is answered, and Dragon's voice echoes through the room.
"It's me, Sabo! Luffy and our brother Ace are in the room too!", Sabo first identifies himself before informing Dragon that there were more people in the room, but since they were his brothers, people he trusted, it was all good.
"Luffy!", Ace suddenly gives Luffy a pat on the shoulder, lightly gesturing to alert him about the sudden appearance of an eye and an ear in a corner of the room.
"Hold on, Dad! Hey, Robin, if you're so curious about what we're talking about, then just come into the room, that way you can ask questions too!", Luffy first stops his father from saying anything as a precaution, and then looks directly at the eye near the ceiling, inviting Robin to enter the room and join the conversation she was trying to eavesdrop on.
"Robin?", Dragon's voice suddenly sounds, the name seeming familiar to him.
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(AN: 3,189 Words)
If you guys decide to give ideas or suggestions about things I should pay attention to in the story, remember that, on Patreon, the fic is currently at the end of the Alabasta Arc, more specifically, they are setting sail from the island.
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